AUTHOR: Dave Sypniewski DATE: Sunday, October 23, 2005 ----- BODY: I remember seeing the 1982 flick "The Twilight Zone" in which Dan Akroyd made a brief appearance at the beginning and the end, and uttered the line, "You wanna see something REALLY scary??!!" That's what I think of whenever I see one of these two horror movie ICONS in their street clothes and sitting at home writing out their bills under their legal names of Rich Koz and Cassandra Peterson. If you're in or from Chicago, you probably already know Koz as the sole, white, Jew that works at WCIU/METV as host of "Stooge-a-palooza" and "Svengoolie". Most people haven't seen Cassandra here without makeup. She was the one that brought "Elvira" to life. These two are in no way connected to one another except for the fact that they both love cheezy horror flicks that look like movies I made in my basement with a Super-8 camera in high school. Oh yeah, they are also on the endangered species list. It looks like the Koala Bear has a better chance of sticking around than these two. Starting with Koz, I can only say that he's a "survivor." Koz has been in Chicago his whole career working his way up and down the radio and tv dial before he found sort of a permanent home at Channel 26 WCIU. You would think he'd take the hint already . "Svengoolie" has been bounced around different timeslots and stations more times than Michael Jordan's UNC basketball. He's now been "buried" (pardon the pun) to a time and station on Saturday mornings where either you don't want to watch or can't, becasuse you don't have cable or rabbit ears that reach half way to the moon! If your employer did that to you, you'd assume they were trying to get you fed up so you would quit...not Koz. Everything was fine until his big attempt to sell Chicago on watching him venture into 3D territory with Godzilla that you needed the special specs from 7-11 to watch. It was downhill from there. Today, Koz doesn't even bother with horror films (which makes no sense). Instead, "Svengoolie" hosts campy flicks like "Flash Gordon" and "Meatballs". The only thing that can save him is the onslaught of current horror movies that come out about 3 a week and then go on DVD a month later. Otherwise, here's my public plea for Koz to retire from TV. Besides, he'd probably get more thrills and money being a guest at a convention... OH BOY! Koz should take a lesson from Cassandra Peterson who has put "Elvira" on the shelf for a while. She's written a book, has recently released some "Best Of" DVD's that highlight her best skits as well as some of her favorite slasher flicks, AND she makes personal appearances now WITHOUT the black wig and makeup and people want to meet her anyway. When I first read an interview with her last year, I thought she was nuts by talking about all the marketing of "Elvira" until I realized she's smart...a businesswoman. She then popped up on television one morning without the costume and I gotta tell you, had it not been for her stage name below her on the screen, I wouldn't know who she was! They tried to coax her into putting on the wig and she made it quite clear that it was going to cost them a LOT of green. Afterall, she was their to talk about her memoirs. So, there you have it. One guy who doesn't want to quit, thinks he's still a big star, and if there's ever 1000 channels on cable, will still be doing his "Svengoolie" schtick even if it's on channel 999. The other one who's got class and the brains and knows how to market herself in or out of costume, knew when it was time to walk away on a high note. Now, which of these two are more scary? In their own weird ways I'd say BOTH! -------- Squealing Pig WORLDWIDE!: It's Fright Night at the The Squealing Pig!

Squealing Pig WORLDWIDE!

Sunday, October 23, 2005

It's Fright Night at the The Squealing Pig!

I remember seeing the 1982 flick "The Twilight Zone" in which Dan Akroyd made a brief appearance at the beginning and the end, and uttered the line, "You wanna see something REALLY scary??!!" That's what I think of whenever I see one of these two horror movie ICONS in their street clothes and sitting at home writing out their bills under their legal names of Rich Koz and Cassandra Peterson. If you're in or from Chicago, you probably already know Koz as the sole, white, Jew that works at WCIU/METV as host of "Stooge-a-palooza" and "Svengoolie". Most people haven't seen Cassandra here without makeup. She was the one that brought "Elvira" to life. These two are in no way connected to one another except for the fact that they both love cheezy horror flicks that look like movies I made in my basement with a Super-8 camera in high school. Oh yeah, they are also on the endangered species list. It looks like the Koala Bear has a better chance of sticking around than these two. Starting with Koz, I can only say that he's a "survivor." Koz has been in Chicago his whole career working his way up and down the radio and tv dial before he found sort of a permanent home at Channel 26 WCIU. You would think he'd take the hint already . "Svengoolie" has been bounced around different timeslots and stations more times than Michael Jordan's UNC basketball. He's now been "buried" (pardon the pun) to a time and station on Saturday mornings where either you don't want to watch or can't, becasuse you don't have cable or rabbit ears that reach half way to the moon! If your employer did that to you, you'd assume they were trying to get you fed up so you would quit...not Koz. Everything was fine until his big attempt to sell Chicago on watching him venture into 3D territory with Godzilla that you needed the special specs from 7-11 to watch. It was downhill from there. Today, Koz doesn't even bother with horror films (which makes no sense). Instead, "Svengoolie" hosts campy flicks like "Flash Gordon" and "Meatballs". The only thing that can save him is the onslaught of current horror movies that come out about 3 a week and then go on DVD a month later. Otherwise, here's my public plea for Koz to retire from TV. Besides, he'd probably get more thrills and money being a guest at a convention... OH BOY! Koz should take a lesson from Cassandra Peterson who has put "Elvira" on the shelf for a while. She's written a book, has recently released some "Best Of" DVD's that highlight her best skits as well as some of her favorite slasher flicks, AND she makes personal appearances now WITHOUT the black wig and makeup and people want to meet her anyway. When I first read an interview with her last year, I thought she was nuts by talking about all the marketing of "Elvira" until I realized she's smart...a businesswoman. She then popped up on television one morning without the costume and I gotta tell you, had it not been for her stage name below her on the screen, I wouldn't know who she was! They tried to coax her into putting on the wig and she made it quite clear that it was going to cost them a LOT of green. Afterall, she was their to talk about her memoirs. So, there you have it. One guy who doesn't want to quit, thinks he's still a big star, and if there's ever 1000 channels on cable, will still be doing his "Svengoolie" schtick even if it's on channel 999. The other one who's got class and the brains and knows how to market herself in or out of costume, knew when it was time to walk away on a high note. Now, which of these two are more scary? In their own weird ways I'd say BOTH!

posted by Dave Sypniewski at Sunday, October 23, 2005

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